The Brooklyn Film Festival is back for its 29th edition, and this year it is bigger, bolder, and more global than ever. Running May 29 through June 7, 2026, the festival spreads across three Brooklyn neighborhoods — Fort Greene, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg — with 134 competing films drawn from 30 countries and 36 world premieres lighting up the program.
29th Brooklyn Film Festival 2026
Theme: “The Invitation”
134 films with 36 world premieres, from 30 countries including African American, Brazilian, Colombian, Guatemalan, Indian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Venezuelan
BRIC Arts Media, Fort Greene: May 29, June 1, 2, 5, 6
100 Sutton Studios, Greenpoint: May 30-31
Wythe Hotel, Williamsburg: June 1-5
May 29 – June 7, 2026
29th Brooklyn Film Festival 2026
Theme: “The Invitation”
134 films with 36 world premieres, from 30 countries including African American, Brazilian, Colombian, Guatemalan, Indian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Venezuelan
BRIC Arts Media, Fort Greene: May 29, June 1, 2, 5, 6
100 Sutton Studios, Greenpoint: May 30-31
Wythe Hotel, Williamsburg: June 1-5
May 29 – June 7, 2026
The Invitation ~ Cinema That Opens Doors
This year’s theme, “The Invitation,” sets the tone for a program that reaches across borders and cultures. The lineup spans 11 narrative features, seven documentary features, 50 narrative shorts, 17 documentary shorts, 24 animated films, and 21 experimental works — a full spectrum of independent filmmaking from voices rarely amplified on mainstream screens.
I think this is where most Americans are today. We’re tired of people shouting out differences and problems ~ even where they don’t exist. We are more alike than we are different, and Brooklyn is cool with everyone.
Opening night lands at BRIC Arts Media House in Fort Greene on May 29 with the New York premiere of A Mosquito in the Ear, directed by Nicola Rinciari and starring Jake Lacy, Nazanin Boniadi, and Ruhi Pal — a drama about a couple traveling to Goa, India to bring home their adopted daughter, only to encounter unexpected resistance.
India is a community that is rising in New York City. How about our mayor? Indians can be Latin throughout the English-speaking West Indies, especially Trinidad where the largest community is of Indian descent.
Goa, India is an interesting place. The city on India’s west coast, south of Mumbai, was the capital of the Portuguese Empire in Asia. I met a young photographer from there in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He said that his parents could speak Portuguese, but his generation couldn’t. Oh, and they do have a lot of mosquitos there.
Venues Across Brooklyn
Screenings run across three distinct Brooklyn settings.
BRIC Arts Media House (647 Fulton Street, Fort Greene) serves as the festival’s main anchor, active on Opening Night and through June 6.
100 Sutton Studios (100 Sutton Street, Greenpoint) hosts screenings June 1 through 5.
The Wythe Hotel (80 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg) takes the program on the May 30-31 weekend.
For filmmakers and industry professionals, the BFF Exchange returns June 3 and 4 at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema, featuring panels, tabling, and a short film pitch contest for documentary and narrative filmmakers.
Most films are also available to stream online from May 30 through June 7.